


What Happened Again?

by FireBall2Cool



Series: That's What Happened Again [1]
Category: Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-31
Updated: 2016-11-18
Packaged: 2018-08-12 06:16:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7923748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireBall2Cool/pseuds/FireBall2Cool
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steven and Alexa have lost their parents to a new update's dimension, The Swirloton (More commonly known as The Swirl Dimension), and they have to embark on a difficult and challenging adventure to - !~~@#&$^%)(@?>?"|} - Joe has bumped into Josh in detention, Susie has been kidnapped, and Jess wants to commit suicide. Do I smell a team-up approaching?</p>
<p>Crossover of Minecraft and real life</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Swirl Dimension

### ~Intro to the mystery~

_Recording Crackles_  
The little boy walks beside the little girl. They hold each other's hands, which just shows how much they like each other. They are only 4 though, they don't know about love. In front of them walks their parents, the famous Steve and Alex. Of course, Steve and Alex aren't married, but they are great friends as well as their children. It is fascinating how much their children look like them, it's almost as if they have the same skin, but of course Steve's boy has brown curls instead of brown, flat hair, and no beard. Alex's girl has only one difference - the colour of her hair which is blonde. The little girl's dad is unknown, but Alex says that he died soon after her birth. This is the same story Steve uses, except it is the mother who had died. The little girl and the little boy are rather strange.  
_Recording Crackles_  
"What are you talking about?!" Steve shouted at the shadow at the end of the room, "I won't have it! Our children leaving each other?! Why should they? They are great friends!" Steve pointed at the little boy and girl outside the room, who are swinging their legs happily whilst chatting in gibberish and laughing. Alex stood outside with them, as Steve had asked her to. She smiled at Steve, unsuspecting the argument going on. The man answered calmly and without any hate, "Yes, I do believe it is essential, it is very dangerous with two subjects of Hiko-"  
_Recording Crackles_  
"Goo-bye Stevie," the little girl sobbed, "See yu again soon," The little boy couldn't answer, he was too busy crying. When he did, he couldn't finish, "B-bye Aweksa. I will miss y-" and he began crying again. Steve and the little boy the girl had called 'Stevie' climbed into the minecart solemnly. Alex and the little girl 'Stevie' had called 'Aweksa' waved goodbye as Steve pushed the button and the minecart flew away. "I will miss yu too!" 'Aweksa' called out. Alex lead 'Aweksa' out of the minecart station and back home. Meanwhile, 'Stevie' and his dad had-  
_Recording Crackles_  
"Why?" Steve sobbed into the lifeless body of the little boy, "Why?!" he was the only one who had survived. Or so he thou-  
_Recording Crackles_  
"Done!" The man exclaimed happily, "All finished!" Steve leaned over his boy's body. "It doesn't seem like it!" he remarked. "Well, of course not, you have to take him back home first and wait until morning, when he will wake up like nothing has happened!" Steve still looked worried. "I hope you're right," he said softly, "I can't imagine li-"  
_Recording Ends_

### The New Update

My adventure started when the new update came.

I was in my room, putting up my new banner of my hero, Steve. He is the best mine-crafter in the WORLD and it's an INFINITE world, so, he is quite famous. I know what you're thinking, why is your hero your dad? I just love him so much, and he IS the hero of everyone! Anyway, I was putting up my latest banner, the one where my dad was slaying the Ender Dragon. He was already gone for two weeks, it took that long to kill it, and they made a new banner for when he came back. Suddenly my friend, Alexa, (you can guess, it's the daughter of Alex) came running in, making me drop my banner. "Alexa!" I shouted, "that's the newest banner of my dad!" "Sorry," she answered, not seeming guilty, "but something just came up!" "What is it?" I asked, wondering what would possibly be so important. "I can't tell you right now, but you have to come quickly!" I quickly put my banner on my bed, and followed Alexa out of the room.

We ran right across town, the villagers agitated at us running over their crops. "Sorry!" Alexa shouted to the villagers, "but we have to run!" We ran for a few minutes, until we had to rest to fill our hunger bars. "So," I said, halfway through a piece of steak, "what is the big deal?" She swallowed the last bit of her pumpkin pie. "Notch had something changed, and everyone is gathering up in front of his house for his announcement." Notch. I had only met him once, when my dad had defeated the Wither. He had given my dad over a stack of gold for his reward. We went to the national minecart ride, for a fun time. Only costed two gold ingots for each of us. I was expecting another visit to Notch since my dad defeated the Ender Dragon.

"I wonder what could be so important that everyone in the village is going..." I wondered. "I dunno," Alexa said, "maybe he created a new object?" "Maybe," I replied, but I wasn't really listening, because I was thinking, maybe it was news about where my dad had gone. About a few days after he had killed the Ender Dragon, he disappeared. He simply vanished. People thought he had gone to the Nether, some thought he had gone to the End to gather more end stone, but I thought none of the above. "We'll find out where your dad is, Steven," Alexa said. Had she been reading my mind? "I... I think Notch might have news about him," I said to Alexa. "Hopefully," she replied.

We walked the rest of the way to Notch's house. It took till the evening. Luckily, there were fences all around Notch's house, and it was well lit, so no mobs would kill or blow us up. I stared up at his house, it was really grand, with quartz walls and every type of wood decorating it. I wonder how much it would've costed to bring all that wood from all the biomes. Suddenly I noticed a different type of wood that I hadn't seen before. It was yellow, and almost glowed. I wonder if he just called us here because he invented a new type of wood, I thought. We walked into the crowd, and they parted for us, I guess because we're the son and daughter of the most famous mine-crafters in the world. We walked right to the front, where Alex was waiting.

"Hi mum," Alexa said, "Hello Alexa," she replied. She didn't seem to be interested in talking, she was focusing on the front doors. Again, the doors were the new wood, that yellowish wood that sort of glowed. Suddenly Notch walked out, and the crowd, who was chatting, silenced. He flicked a lever and the speakers turned on. "Hello, everybody!" he said into the microphone, "I see that a lot of the village decided to come, and that is rather excellent!" Everyone started muttering again. They are going to be so disappointed when they find out he is only going to reveal the new wood, I thought. "I have a big announcement! I am proud to say that we have released the new update!" he said with excitement. A new update? I thought, that hasn't happened for ages! "As you can probably see," he continued, "I had one of the new items installed on my house," he said pointing to the wood. "And the new update has also installed a new dimension, called the Swirl dimension, which we made as the HARDEST dimension in the universe!" he said, clearly looking jumped up with excitement.

"But I haven't only called you here to tell you about the new update," he said, glancing towards me. "We believe that we have located where Steve is." I gasped, Dad! Oh dad! I thought "Where is he?" I blurted out. He looked at me, "Well..." he said "Yes?" I asked, my heart thumping dangerously. "This is the bad news," he continued. Bad news?! I thought, my heart thumping even harder, threatening to burst out my chest. "Yes, I have to say... he... is in the swirl dimension." And my hearts failed me.

### The Plan

I woke up in a hospital room with Alexa leaning over me. Suddenly all the memories of that night came back. Oh, my dad is in the swirl dimension! I thought, but before I could think about it any longer, Alexa noticed I was awake. "STEVEN!" she shouted and threw herself around me. "I was so worried about you," she said, her words muffled in my hospital clothes. She suddenly leapt back, her face beet red, as Alex came in. A moment of silence. Then, "Oh Steven!" Alex walked to my side, "I was quite worried about you, you were out for three days!" I stared at her in shock. "Three days?" I asked, "Really?" Suddenly I noticed I only had three hearts, and low hunger. Before I could say anything, Alex said, "The doctors said you weren't regenerating, you stayed at three hearts. There was nothing he could do except wait for you to wake up and then feed you to regen," She looked concerned,

"And here he comes now," she looked in the door's direction. An old man with pure white clothes on walked into the room. He was carrying a tray with food on. Oh my, I've never seen so many foods, I thought as he put the tray on my lap. There was steak, porkchops, chicken, mutton, rabbit, carrots, cooked potatoes, bread, pumpkin pie and cake for dessert. My mouth watered and I immediately bit into the steak, my favourite. Then I had a porkchop, some carrots, a cooked potato and a slice of cake. My hunger bar was full. I suddenly noticed my hearts had gone up quickly. "What exactly happened?" I asked the doctor. "Well," he said, "as soon as you heard that your dad was in the swirl dimension, you practically had a heart attack, and you fell unconcious. The heart attack didn't do much, only one or two hearts, and we could help you easily with that, but when you fell, your hearts decreased incredibly and it was all Alex and her daughter-" "Alexa," Alexa said, "Alexa could do to take you to hospital and we had to have an operation on your head."

That's when I noticed the bandage around my head, and how dizzy I had become from just sitting up. I lay down quickly, and the doctor said, "Well then, it looks like you need a bit of a rest, so we'll leave to keep you in peace-" but then before I thought about it, I said, "No, I want to talk to Alexa," I glanced in her direction. "Very well, you may, but only for five minutes." The doctor ushered Alex out of the room and glanced back at us. "Don't think of doing anything... rash with that head of yours." he said winking at me. Once he had walked out Alexa said, "What do you want to talk about," as she sat on the edge of the bed. "The swirl dimension." I answered, making her go wide eyed. I had known Alexa for so long that I knew from that look that she wanted to know more. So I lay out the plan.

### Pumpkin Pie, Steak and Bread

At first I didn't understand what Steven was saying. Then I realized he wanted to go to the Swirl Dimension.

Halfway through his sentence about collecting enough food for the trip, I immediately said, "No, you can't go to the Swirl Dimension," hoping he would just let it drop. But I knew Steven so much and I didn't exactly think he'd drop it. "Alexa, I have to go to that dimension, I have to save my dad!" he said, his eyes tearing up. I hesitated to tell him that Steve would find his way back OK, because I didn't know if he would, but I did say it, or at least try to, "Your dad will co-" "No he won't!" Steven was full on crying now. "I knew that Notch was planning to make a new dimension, and I know that if you go in the swirl dimension, you can't come back without a spare portal on you." I stared at him. He quickly wiped his eyes on his sleeve. "I... I just can't stand my dad never coming back..." he choked on his words, I could tell. "Okay," I said to him. He looked at me in surprise. "But only on one condition!" I added, "I have to come with you," He smiled, "Then you shall come with," he said.

About an hour later, I was sneaking in-between the hospital rooms, quietly making my way to the kitchen. Steven had told me to steal some food from them while they weren't looking since we probably needed quite a bit of food for our voyage. Meanwhile he was taking a nap. Why do I always get the hard work? Anyway, as I was creeping silently onwards, I started to notice how different the walls and ceiling looked. They must've been new materials from the new update. I decided to think about it later and keep going on with the mission. A few minutes later, I reached the kitchen, and peered inside. The coast was clear, so I crept slowly and silently to the pantry chests. I opened one. Full of pork chops. I could tell my face turned green. Did I ever tell you I was a vegetarian? Anyway, I closed the chest lid and opened the second chest. Bread. Now that's more like it, I thought. I tenth filled my backpack with them and looked in the third chest. Steak. You might think, if you're vegetarian, why didn't your face go green at the sight of steak? Well, steak is almost the only thing Steven will eat at times, so I'm used to seeing it and got over turning green and the sight of it. So I filled another tenth of the pack with carefully wrapped steak for Steven.

I grabbed some extra carrots, potatoes, etc. and was just about to leave when I saw something that made my mouth water. On the (stained) windowsill, a few pumpkin pies were cooling off. My favourite food. I couldn't resist it, so I took ten of them. I also took two cakes for me and Steven that were on the windowsill too. I quickly made my way back to Steven's room. It had been half an hour already, so I hoped he had rested enough and was awake. A few minutes later, I arrived at his room and opened the door. Steven was gone.

### Hikonia

My heart almost stopped, I was so scared for Steven. I was SO sure that it had been this room. Maybe I am just overreacting, he's probably been sent home already, I thought to myself. I walked out of the room and started towards the nearest doctor standing in the corridor. My heart beat fast as I walked towards him. "Uuumm..." I said, trying to choose the right words, "do you know where Steven is, the boy who was resting just in that room," I pointed to the room that I had been in. "Steven?..." the doctor thought for a bit. "I think he was sent home," I breathed out a sigh of relief. Then took it back in again. He avoided my eyes. He must be telling a lie, I thought. I stared him in the eye. "The truth." I said. He sighed. "I am telling the truth! Honest!" He was still avoiding my eyes, "and you have no right to talk to an adult like that!" he glared me in the eyes, but with the anger I saw a bit of guilt. I turned around and walked away, knowing I shouldn't press him any harder. So he's lying, I thought. I'll just have to find Steven on my own. So I walked further on.

Soon I came to the surgery section. I looked into the first room. No-one there. Just a bunch of tools on a workbench that I have never seen before. First of all, the workbench was yellow, and I had never seen that kind of wood before. There was a tool that looked very sharp and curved at the end... Intriguing... Anyway, I also saw a few ender pearls carefully wrapped in leather on the table in the middle. What were they planning to do with those? I took a few just in case we needed some on our journey. WE, I thought, remembering, I must continue looking for Steven! I walked out of the room, and grabbed the curved sharp tool. It could also be useful. I peered in the next room. Nothing of interest... Just the same tools, but there was another tool I didn't see in the other room. It was spiked on one end and smooth on the other. Could be useful... This went on until I had a selection of tools to help us on our journey. 

But then when I peered into another room, (I don't know, the tenth room?) I saw Steven. Lying on a bed. Completely unconscious. And doctors were operating on him. Before I thought about it, I shouted, "What are you doing to him!?" If only words could be taken back... All the doctors turned towards me, and one said, "None of your business, and you shouldn't be peeking in on our operations." I felt my face turn red. "It is my business, he is my best friend! And I'm the daughter of Alex, who is the best friend of Steve, who is the dad of him!" I pointed towards Steven. They had cut him open in the stomach and were looking at him from the inside. "So, what are you doing to him?"  
The man who had talked first was about to speak, when another doctor said, "We are looking for a substance that is in the new update, and we figure it might be in him... because of his accident..." The doctor who had spoken earlier glared at the one who had just spoken.

I felt confused. Substance? In Steven? "What kind of substance?" I asked. The man turned his glare to me. "It is a substance called Hikonia, and it is only rarely found in the liver of some people." "What does it do, and how did you know that Steven has it?" I asked. He continued glaring, until finally he said, "We haven't been told what it does, only to extract it from whoever we know has it. And about how we knew that he has it...? That's a tricky one..." I stood there, overcome by curiosity, not knowing that one of the doctors had crept behind me and had raised a flat tool from inside a chest. "Well," he said. "all I can say is, we know you have it too." And everything turned black.

### Black

The first thing I thought was - PAIN. Pain in my legs, my arms, my head, and especially in my stomach. I groaned. Then I heard footsteps. And then I heard the word "Hikonia". Hikonia? I saw that word before... in a book? I thought. Then there was a voice... Alexa... I tried to open my eyes, but they felt too heavy. Suddenly I heard a bang, like something metal slamming against a body part. I groaned again.   
Black.  
* * * * *  
I could finally open my eyes. I looked around. Everything was blurred. I tried sitting up, but my body refused. I felt a searing pain in my stomach. Reaching my arm out, I felt my stomach. And pulled my hand back to find blood on my fingers. My breath short, trembling, I wiped my fingers on my pants. My eyesight started clearing, so I looked to my right. I could see a table with a few tools on top of them. Not that interesting. I looked to my left. Alexa! What was she doing in a bed? Then I noticed the doctors standing around her, operating on her. "Alexa..." I whispered.  
Black.

### Flashback

The first thing I thought was - PAIN. Pain in my legs, my arms, my head, and especially in my stomach. I groaned. Something flickered in my mind. That was the feeling when I had De-Ja-Vu (*A/N* However you spell it...). I tried remembering when I felt this feeling before, but I couldn't. All I could remember was that it happened just a while ago, but that couldn't make sense, because the last thing I remember was falling asleep in my room after Alexa came in. Alexa. I remembered that I had asked her to steal some food, and I started worrying. What if she never made it, what if she got caught? I thought. I slowly opened my eyes, which felt extremely heavy, and my worry washed away. Alexa was standing at my bedside. "Steven! Thank goodness you are awake!" she exclaimed, but behind the joy I could see a bit of worry, and even a bit of fear. "Yeah," I replied, feeling too drained to say anything else.

"Are you okay?" she asked, and I nodded. Why was she so concerned? Was she still anxious from the fall I had? "My head is fine thank you," I added. "I don't mean that," she replied, the worry showing up even more on her face, "I mean what happened last night," she said now, hardly even a whisper.

* * * * * * *  
Flashback  
* * * * * * *  
"Okay, we're gonna have to take your memory away now," the doctor said. I was fully conscious now, even though I didn't want to be. The doctor was holding a needle a foot long in front of my face. I knew it was no good to run, he would just throw it at me anyway. I saw him on TV, he was an excellent javelin thrower, so it would be no trouble for him to throw it at me. I shook my head furiously, they had injected me with something already to numb my body, so I couldn't speak or thrash around. "Too bad, you've seen too mu-"  
* * * * * * *

"Steven?" Alexa voice shook me out of my flashback. I was trembling. "They..." I whispered, sweat running down my forehead, "they tried to take my memory away..." I looked Alexa in the eye. "Why?" I asked her. She shook her head. "I don't know, but they've done it to me too," I looked around. I was in the room I was in before I went to sleep... That felt like days ago, even though it was the day before. "I only remember one thing..." she said. "Me too," I replied. We looked into each other’s eyes, exchanging glances. "Hikonia," we said in unison.

### The boy with the dark blue eyes

A moment of silence. "What is Hikonia?" I asked Steven. He shrugged, "I can't remember completely, but I only remember a man starting to inject something into me - something to make me forget what had happened, and it worked..." I stared at Steven, wondering how he could have remembered that, it was so strong... I shook my head and looked away. "Maybe it was something to do with my stomach, it feels horrible," Steven added, chewing his bottom lip, something I had seen him do a lot when he was thinking. I felt guilty, a feeling that churned in my stomach. "Well whatever they did, I think we should leave," I replied. I was surprised by how quickly Steven agreed.  
* * * * *  
We crouched outside the door, silently sneaking to the end of the corridor. I had given Steven one of the sharp tools that I had packed in my bag; I couldn't remember how I had put them there, but I appreciated it. Once he had the tool, he immediately said it was a scalpel. I stared at him. "What?" he had said, "What's wrong with looking up about the update? I already said that I had known there was an update coming, and that I had looked up on it!" I had shrugged and motioned for him to be silent and to go on sneaking. Now we were at the end of the corridor, looking through the glass in the window. It looked like a lobby, but no-one was there. "Come on," Steven opened the door and walked inside. I hesitated before I followed, wondering why no-one was there. Then I walked through after Steven.

"Sorry about this, but..."  
* * * * *  
My head hurt. I let out a groan. Why did this always happen? WHY?! "Sorry, I had to do that," a voice said, as if reading my thoughts. I couldn't quite put the voice in the right place, it sounded familiar, but I couldn't remember who it was. I opened my eyes, and saw a boy with large, dark blue eyes staring down at me. His hair was blonde, but I could see some brown highlights almost hidden behind the blonde. His stare looked a tiny bit guilty. All this was registered in a split-second. I suddenly heard a groan from the right of me. The boy's eyes filled with fear. "I have to go," he stuttered, picking up a blue satchel and running off. "Wait! I didn't get your name..." but he was already gone.

I looked over to where the groan had sounded, and saw Steven sitting up, rubbing his head. I ran over to him, and stood over him. He smiled. "Want a hand up?" I asked. All he replied was, "Do I always have to wake up like this?" and he took my hand. I realised that my mind wasn't actually on what was happening now, it was just thinking, the boy with the dark blue eyes. I shook my head out of my thoughts and looked at Steven, who was already standing up, and I decided I would keep what happened a secret. For now.

### Alex is gone

We looked around the lobby for a last time, just to check that we were alone again... I didn't mention the boy, but Steven was still paranoid about someone being there, which is kinda understandable, since he just got knocked out for the third time in a few days. "No-one is here Steven! He- I mean whoever it was had probably left already." I reassured Steven. He looked suspiciously at me, "You just said 'he' as if you knew who it was who knocked us out..." I paused, putting on a look that didn't give anything away. "I just assumed it was a he, because usually a girl can't hit that hard..." I tried making up an excuse. "Ok, I believe you." That's all he said.

We sneaked to the door that led outside. This time I checked carefully that there wasn't anyone ready to knock me and Steven out. As soon as I made sure that it was fully clear, I signalled to Steven to follow me. We walked out, and stood facing the main street. Everything was deserted. "Where is everyone?" Steven said, standing next to me. I just shrugged. "I don't know where we are by the way," Steven added, "I was unconscious when you took me here." The image of Steven lying unconscious came back to me. "Ok," I said, "Notch's house is to the left, your house is ahead, past that village," I pointed to a village in front of us, "and my house is just over there next to the armour shop -we just moved remember- my mom loved trying the newest armour..." I suddenly remembered, where is she? I turned around, facing the hospital towering above me. "I wonder where my mom is?..." I said, "We should look for her in your house," Steven replied. I was shocked by his sudden answer. "Don't we have to collect the items for the portal?" I asked, looking at Steven. "No, your mom is also important, you wouldn't want to lose her too!"

So we walked to the house, and knocked at the door. "Who is it?" called a woman's voice from inside. "It's me, Alexa, with Steven!" I replied. "Steven and Alexa?" the voice replied. Footsteps sounded in the corridor, and she opened the door. But it wasn't Alex. "I don't know any Steven and Alexa, sorry." and she shut the door in our faces.

### New Armour

Alexa stood there for a moment. Even I was shocked by the sudden response of the lady who came to the door. "Wh- where is Alex?" I asked, suddenly noticing I was shaking. Alexa still stood silently. I could see that a tear was running down her cheek. "Alexa?" I asked again. No response. "Come on Alexa, we have to go!" Her eyes were pouring with tears now. "The Swirl Dimension," she sobbed, and fell to her knees crying. I immediately understood. The swirl dimension had taken Alex too. "We'll find her," I said silently, "along with my father." She looked up to me. "We will?" she whispered, "We will," I whispered back. 

Alexa stood up and wiped the last traces of tears from her face. "Alright," she said firmly, "now this adventure has become even more dangerous, and we must get on with it." I smiled and nodded. I didn't want to reveal what I knew. "Let's get some armour," she said, "we can say we are doing a play with them," I nodded in agreement. "But we can't get weapons from the shop! They'll get suspiscious," I added to her statement. She stopped for a second and looked up towards the sky - a sign that she was thinking - and said, "Can we get weapons from your house? I know that Steve liked to store weapons," I nodded again. A pang in my heart appeared at the word liked, because she almost stated as if he is already gone. "Sure," I replied, and we walked to the armour shop.

I walked inbetween the rows of armour in awe, wondering how there could be so many types. The last time I looked, diamond armour was new! I searched until I saw a section with unwanted armour. I waved Alexa over. "Maybe he will be more willing to give away unwanted armour instead of new armour?" I said to Alexa. "Mmm... maybe..." she stared back at a set of armour she had been studying. I pushing through the curtain and couldn't believe my eyes. Most of it was brand new! Except for a layer of dust on each one, they were perfectly ok! "I wonder why they're unwanted..." I whispered to myself. "It's because each of them has at least one disfunction." Said a loud voice behind me. I turned around to see a big man - at least twice the size of me - grinning. "So, teenagers want some armour? That's a first!" he chuckled to himself. "U- umm- we need- err- s- some armour f- for a school project," I stuttered. "Tut-tut," the big man chuckled again, "well then, CHOOSE!" I immediately turned around again and faced the armour.

### Choosing

I walked along the rows and immediately a set of armour caught my eyes. I walked over to it and inspected it carefully. It was a mixture of red, orange and yellow and, strangely, some blue at the tips of the boots. It had a flame illustration on the front, and it was really good, I could almost feel the heat, "Ah yes, the Fireball of Doom," the man's voice boomed from behind me. When I raised my eyes in question, he laughed, "The makers thought that dramatic names are only suitable for these kinds of Armour Sets," his eyes twinkled. "I'm surprised that no-one has bought it yet, it's beautiful!" I exclaimed, "Well, yes, but sensitive people can die with this on," he whispered quietly. My eyes widened and I took an unintended step back. He laughed, "No, no. I mean that it sets ablaze," My eyes widened, if possible, even wider, and he laughed again, "No, no, no. I mean that it acts like a blaze and shoots out fireballs, but sensitive people can't endure it and burn up," I nodded, it was understandable, "Can I have it?" I asked, and he laughed even harder; this man seemed really jolly, "What for again?" he asked politely. "Oh... yes, for a school project." I muttered.

He let me have it, which was lucky, seeing as he was quite suspicious about the 'school project' lie, and then I remembered about Alexa. I looked around, and not seeing her, went through the shelves to find her. Then I saw her, kneeling down and examining some armour sets, so I jogged over to her, "Hey, Alexa, I found a set of armour, and it sui-" I suddenly stopped. It wasn't Alexa, it was a boy with long hair, and turning around, I could see that he had deep, dark, blue eyes. "O-oh, um... sorry, I thought you were someone else..." I stammered, feeling my face going red. "Who are you looking for?" he asked, standing up, and I saw that he was about a year or two older than me. "Um, a girl with long blonde hair and, um... light blue eyes," I stammered in response, fixed on those dark blue eyes. They widened and he quickly put the armour sets back on the shelves, taking one pair for himself, "I-i need to g-go now..." he stuttered and quickly dropped some gold ingots at the till to pay for his wonderfully dark blue outfit that he had chosen, "G-goodbye," and he ran out the door.

My mouth dropped open. Why had he left as soon as I mentioned Alexa? I thought to myself, but then spotted Alexa and made straight for her. "Hey, Alexa," I said, and I noticed that she was examining a green, herb smelling set of armour. "Hey," she replied, "have you got a suit?" "Yep," I answered, "one that sets ablaze - it shoots fireballs - every no and then. What have you got?" She glanced at the suits in front of her, and back at the green one, "I think... no... I don't want this... I want that..." she paused in-between each phrase, and then she pointed at a sleek black one far at the back of the row. I frowned, and she added quickly, "I mean, it's cool, it teleports you short distances around like an enderman... And black is my kinda colour." I smiled and nodded, "You are one cool goth," I chuckled and she shot me a glare. "I'm not a goth, I just like enderman," she said. I shook my head and smiled, "Well, we'd better buy these before the shopman gets too suspicious," and she nodded in agreement, so we went to the till and waited for him to stagger over.

"Now," he said, "that's..." he looked at our choices, "four gold ingots for the 'Fireball of Doom' and..." he glanced at the enderman suit and whistled, "what a good choice although rather dangerous around lava..." and then he remembered what he was supposed to be doing and said, "Oh yes... and three gold ingots for the 'Enderman Suit'," he held out his stubby fingers and I reluctantly dropped seven gold into his hand. "Good," he mumbled and walked away. Alexa and I exchanged glances and sniggered. "Let's go," I said to her, and she nodded. "Wait..." I stopped and turned to her, remembering, "You don't know anything about a boy with dark blue eyes do you?"

### The Wonderful Weaponry

I jumped. What Steven had just said was probably something I misheard, so I asked "Sorry, what did you say?" and stopped walking to turn to him. He raised his eyebrows, "Do you know anything about a boy with dark blue eyes?" he repeated calmly. So he did mean it. Where had he seen that boy? In the shop? "Uuuummmm..." I started, but he cut across me, "because when I mentioned you to him he got scared and left immediately." I couldn't believe my ears. He had gotten scared from me? Why? I was talking to him just an hour ago! "Well, I don't exactly know him," I said, looking at the ground, and I told him what had happened when we had left the hospital and got knocked out. "So that's why I was knocked out! It was that guy! And he got scared of me too... What was all that about, him getting scared when we were mentioned by the other?" he exclaimed in a rush when I had finished. "I don't know, maybe he doesn't want to be with us when we are together?" I replied. "Well, we can't dwell on it now, we need to go!" he added and started walking to the village.

We decided that we would need some weapons next, as there was bound to be trouble along the way. We walked up to a weaponry, our armour slung over our shoulders and walked in. All the weapons were beautiful, shining in the sun outside. A young lady came hurrying up to us and recited - almost as if she practiced it - a speech, "Welcome to the Wonderful Weaponry where we sell the latest brands of weapons including the original stone, iron, gold and diamond swords and the original wooden bow carved by Steve and Alex," she took a great gasp and continued, "they are at the back if you want to see them, but I recommend the latest versions right here in the front," she gestured to the weapons hung on the weapon racks behind her, "and I hope you find the one just right for you!" I exchanged glances with Steven, "This woman doesn't get a lot of customers does she?" I whispered to him as she walked back to her post, looking relieved that she had remembered her speech correctly. "No I don't think so," he replied and we laughed silently.

I walked through the racks, examining all the weapons. I liked the diamond bow, although it was a bit stiff. Then I spotted a dark one, darker than all the others in the middle. It was labeled: 'Destructor Bow of the End' and was sold with a pack of ender pearls and bedrock arrows for twenty-five gold ingots. I examined it and decided that I would keep it, it would match with my armour, and I like playing with ender pearls. I walked over to Steven and saw that he had decided on one - that was also on sale - which was green and had cactus arrows along with it. In his other hand he held a sword that glowed bright purple when it came in contact with anything and that thing disappeared with the noise that would usually happen when you teleport to the Nether. I realised that with my interest in the bow, I had forgotten all about a sword and, before Steven could notice me and ask where the sword I chose was, I stalked off to the sword section. In front of me was the biggest collection of swords I had ever seen. To match my outfit and bow, I took a sword - much like Steven's - that disappeared what it touched, but with a noise that sounded like the noise that would come up when you teleported to the End and had an engraving on the side of what looked like an eye of ender.

I then strolled over to Steven, who was waiting for me at the till, and dropped my stuff on the table. The woman immediately counted up the amount of the items, and without a word, Steven gave her the amount that she had asked for. We walked out and shared what we got with the other and we put on our armour, placed the ender pearls and arrows carefully in our inventories, and swung our swords around to test them. They felt perfect. "What do you think?" Steven asked me after swinging around his Nether sword and shooting a few cactus arrows over the horizon. I smiled and said, "Excellent, me?" and he nodded in approval. "All that is left is how to get to the swirl dimension..." he muttered. After a few seconds of thought, his face brightened and he said, "We could look it up on my computer! Come let's go to my house," and so we strolled in the setting sun to his house, still testing out our new weapons.  
I suddenly remembered that we were supposed to get weapons at Steven's house and not in a public shop, and I wondered whether that weird woman would tell on us. I hoped not, but for now we were safe.

### Wet, wet tears

We arrived at Steven's house as soon as it started turning into night, and so instead of looking up how to make the swirl dimension portal we went straight to sleep, in fear of creepers. We woke up early morning and got to work immediately. Steve opened up his computer and opened the page with the URL, minecraft.gamepedia.com and searched The Swirl Dimension. It loaded for a few seconds, and then came up blank, so he instead typed Swirling Portal, but it still stayed blank, except for a picture of the Nether Portal. Steven sighed, "So they haven't uploaded that page yet..." he grumbled, "Well, we should just ask Notch then." My mouth dropped open. "Notch? Why should we? I mean... we have the inter-... net..." I started and then stopped, knowing it was no use. "To Notch then?" he said, and before I could answer he picked up his backpack and his weapons, then quickly put on his fire suit. I slid on my black enderman suit and then picked up my bag and weapons to, and as I was putting on my backpack, my sword came in contact with one of Steven's banners and disappeared. I looked over to Steven and saw that he had stopped in the act of putting on his backpack too, and said softly, "That was all I had left of my dad after I left..." and I realized I had sent his banner of Steve into the End.

We walked in silence to Notch's house, and I only attempted saying sorry once, because I knew how Steven was. Honestly, I didn't understand why he was so upset; it was just a poster; but when I remembered that his dad had been sent to the Swirl Dimension and that there was a tiny chance he would come back, I became ashamed. When we arrived, however, he put on a brave tone and said, "OK, we have to knock, ask politely if we may go in, and then speak patiently to him about the Swirl Dimension." I didn't reply, and instead knocked. But then that was when it went all wrong. Alarms blared, beacons lit up and the door opened inwards to a pack of aggressive dogs with red eyes and deep growls ringing in their throats. I gulped and fumbled for my sword, taking out one of my bedrock arrows instead and with no time to waste, started hitting the dogs with it. They yelped and the smell of burning dog hair filled the area. I turned to Steven and saw that his armour had set aflame and a few dogs with it. Astonished by this sight, I didn't see the dog behind me leap up and land on my back, ripping open my backpack. As all of our food and tools fell out, I felt a horrible pain in my back and screamed, the pain was so much that I fell and saw my hearts decreasing slowly. Looking up I saw Notch, but his face was distorted and then he opened his mouth but all I could hear was screaming. Mine?

* * * * * *  
I woke up and felt a searing pain in my back. I bolted straight up and almost immediately fell back down again; the pain was unbearable. I looked around and saw myself lying down on a couch and bleeding slightly out the back. I jumped, and then realized it was just a mirror. I then felt my back, and my fingers came away bleeding. Taking a deep breath I called out for Steven. No response. I started crying as I thought he had left me. Where was Alex? Where was Steve? It is so lonely here in this manor. I sobbed even harder. What is this doing to me? Why did they have to give it to me? And now everyone has left...

* * * * * *  
I jumped awake and immediately called out for Steven, after all I had to make sure it was just a dream... Or was it just a dream? It felt familiar. Before I could think about it any longer, Steven walked into the room, smiling when he saw that I was okay. "You feeling any better?" he asked, "I was worried that we couldn't go on with the trip as you were hurt, but Notch said that you would soon be able to." I stared at him for a second, and then attempted to get up, but it hurt so bad. "You told him everything?" I croaked weakly and began to cry at how sick I sounded, and about everything else that was happening to my life every day. Just a few days ago I was a perfectly normal person, well I guess, not so normal as I was the daughter of the second best Minecrafter ever, and now I'm going on a trip to a new DIMENSION which is supposed to be super hard to save her and Steve! My life has turned upside down so quickly. Steven hugged me and whispered, "I got the recipe for the Swirl Dimension portal," and smiled. Even though he smiled, he looked very stressed. I smiled through my wet, wet tears.

### Nightmares

We fell asleep right there and then, Alexa before me because she was so tired, and finally me, my breathing slowing to a steady pace as I entered my dreams.

I was outside of Notch's house with Alexa, smiling like everything was OK, like we hadn't lost our parents. I pressed a button to ring the bell, and heard the familiar hiss of a creeper. The smile fading from my face, I tried to pull the still-smiling Alexa away from the house, but she wouldn't listen, asking me "What's wrong?" and telling me that "Nothing bad has ever happened to us," and the whole house blew up, blasting me and Alexa back. I landed on a rock and my vision went black, while Alexa flew in the opposite direction. I opened my eyes to see Alexa still alive, and still smiling, when suddenly a pack of wolves - the pack of wolves from earlier - started to attack her, biting and clawing her from all directions. She finally stopped smiling, and instead started screaming, a scream that chilled my bones and filled my body.

I woke up and found out that it was me screaming, and stopped just in time before Alexa awoke. Everything suddenly seemed so quiet, without the creeper hiss, the dog snarls and the... screaming. I thought. We had been standing outside of Notch's house - that was from earlier, along with the wolves, although she hadn't been so ferociously bitten before Notch had intervened. The explosion was probably representing the sadness and anger we've experienced so far... Why was Alexa attacked and not me though? Why not me? I started sobbing and immediately realized why - it was a nightmare, and I was so afraid of Alexa being hurt. Did I have feelings for her? Did I... love her? As this pondered my mind, I fell asleep again.

This time I was in the Swirl Dimension, as I imagined it, many swirls of colours covering everything, but where I had appeared was tainted with grey and black... Looking around, I spotted Steve. Emotions overwhelming me, I ran to my dad. "Daddy? My favourite Minecrafter?" I always called him that, my favourite Minecrafter, but this time he didn't seem to notice me. "Daddy?..." I faltered noticing the look on his face, a look that showed everything, how sad and desperate he was. How upset he was that we hadn't come to help him yet. Noticing that, I realized just how old he looked. He had so many wrinkles on his face, and his eyes were tired and sagged. Suddenly he - a replica of him - appeared out of the gloom and I was surprised how white his eyes were. Realizing it was Herobrine, the main character of the old legend of how monsters came to exist, I gasped and felt grateful for being invisible. Herobrine was feared everywhere, but then his next move surprised me. He spotted Steve and gasped, "My favourite Minecrafter?"

### Stuck

I stumbled back. What did Herobrine just say?! He said "my favourite Minecrafter"? But I say that all the time to him! I'm not... Am I? Am I Herobrine? I expected to wake up with the fright of discovering this, but I didn't. I quickly pinched myself, wanting to escape this horror. I froze, terrified, realizing it wasn't a dream. I could feel the pain from the pinch, but I wasn't waking up!

Seeing that Herobrine and Steve were focused on each other, I ran away, wanting to escape it. I'm Herobrine?! But I was in the dream with him, and he didn't see me! And I am STUCK in the dream!! I eventually got tired and sat down underneath a colourful tree, and turned back to where Herobrine and Steve were. Wait a second... They were exactly the same distance away! Maybe I couldn't run away from it, and I had to face what was happening. I crouched and walked up to them. Everywhere Herobrine walked, the grass, the trees and the sky turned grey. He's the virus! I'm the virus? I shook my head, I was probably making stupid accusations... He might have just said that because he knew I said that all the time and wanted to confuse Steve... Yes, I will believe that now, I decided, and focused on what was happening between Steve and Herobrine.

Herobrine had a single tear running down his cheek, and he was hesitating as he spoke, "Dad? I... I wanted... t... to find you for so... long... How long have you been here?" And then he collapsed into tears, seeing that Steve couldn't speak. He's just faking, I thought, but I was doubting it. Is he actually me? Am I actually him? I felt the same way that Herobrine looked. "I've only felt this feeling once before..." this was Herobrine. He wiped away his tears, and scrunched up his eyebrows. Suddenly his blank eyes widened and he looked right at me! I ran again, and this time the dream let me. Maybe it sensed the danger, Herobrine nearby, and let me go. When I reached an area where I was safe from his blank eyes I looked back.

Herobrine hadn't followed me. In fact, he was sobbing all over Steve now, who patted him on the back absent minded. Then I noticed that Steve was blind. The way Steve stared in one direction the whole time with an absent minded look on his face was torturing for me. I screamed, and screamed, and screamed, and screamed, and screamed, and screamed, and screamed, and screamed, and screamed, and screamed, and screamed, and screamed, and screamed, and screamed, and screamed, and screamed, and screamed, and screamed, and woke up.

### Herobrine

I woke up hearing Steven scream. Immediately sitting up, I tried to get to where Steven was (apparently he had sleep-walked away from where we fell asleep), and fell down again, the pain in my back spiking through my spine. Trying again, I crawled over to where he was curled up, and fell down again in horror. What I was seeing wasn't real right? Steven had white eyes! WITH NO PUPILS! He looked like Herobrine! Just as I was witnessing this, he woke up, and colour flowed back into his eyes (those beautiful brown irises were awesome). He finally stopped screaming, noticing the look I wore on my face, horror.

"W-what?" he asked, his voice shaking. I quickly closed my mouth, and, stuttering, answered with, "Y-you had w-white eyes l-like Herob-brine," and he started crying, taking me by surprise, Steven never cried. I started crawling towards him to comfort him, with which he responded to by pushing me away, softly, but determinedly. I instantly started worrying about him, and what it took to make him cry. I tried to crawl to him again, but he just pushed me away again, now harder. It sent me sliding across the floor, and sent an instant shock up my spine, hurting the area the dogs had bitten me.

I tried to suppress the shout I felt crawling up my throat, but failed, making a high-pitched wailing sound. Notch, finally, entered, and seeing me and Steven lying on the floor, Steven crying and me wailing, he helped us up and into our beds, as it was still 2:00 in the morning. Eventually Steven fell asleep, taking his sobs into his dreams, but I stayed awake. I pondered what had just happened, Steven having the white eyes of Herobrine, and pushing me over, which he never did. I decided to use one of the tools I had found in the hospital, as I saw one that actually could be used to read minds!

As soon as I was sure Steven was fast asleep, I approached him carefully with the tool in my hand. I quickly placed it on his forehead, as the tool instructed, and set it to 30 minutes before. As soon as I turned it on, I found myself being pulled towards Steven. Realizing that it was the mind-reader, I let it pull me, and I fell into a dark hole of nothingness.

### Replay

Everything was fuzzy. Everything looked like a 20th century film, when Steve and Alex's parents supposedly fought The Ender Dragon. All around me was colourful patterns on everything in this place. It was sort of fading in and out, which was understandable as I was using a mind reader tool. I saw Steven in the corner of my eye, and looking towards him, he looked as if he was waking up, when in fact he was falling asleep. He saw something in the opposite area of where I was looking, and his eyes widened. I looked there too, and saw Steve and... MOM! Oh Mom!!! Now I understood why he was crying, he saw his DAD! And my MOM! But in fact, he was only looking strangely at Alex. He muttered something in shock, but I couldn't hear him, so I walked closer to him. He apparently couldn't see me, which was helpful so that he didn't find out about the mind reader device. I heard a snitch of something he said, but he was talking differently, almost in a different language. That's when I noticed his eyes. Oh God, not again. He had white eyes.

This took me by surprise, why did he look like Herobrine here too? I fell backwards, onto a multi-coloured patch of grass. The grass instantly turned grey, all the colour looking as if it was absorbed into the air. My mouth hung wide open. I focused back on Steven, and my mind changed to something different. Wherever he was walking, the grass turned grey too! He was sort of stumbling around, and I couldn't resist the urge to try and help him. I ran over to him, and just before he fell down, I caught him. He was gasping, trying to hold tears back, and even though I supported him, he didn't seem to notice me. I started noticing the colour fading from his face, and his white eyes growing darker. I dropped him, and he fell unconscious on the ground, all the colour bleached from his face, his arms, even his clothes. I sobbed. 'What have I done? What have I... DONE?!' and I fell down next to him, the colour fading from the world around me. I tried to call my mom and Steven's dad for help, but they didn't come, and everything swirled around me and Steven in the blank world.

Suddenly, I was teleported, and the colour blinded my eyes. I felt myself smiling uncontollably, and I tried to stop, but it felt like someone else was controlling me. I saw Steven, and I ran over to him and kissed him on the mouth. Again, not my doing, but I felt peace anyway. We were at the front of Notch's house again. When we managed to break apart, Steven smiled too, as if I was a contagious disease of happiness. We strolled over to Notch's front door. Inside, I was crying from what I had witnessed just a minute ago, but outside, I was still smiling. Steven rang the doorbell, and a creeper's hiss filled my mind. His smile broke into a look of shock, and he tried to pull me away from the door, but I couldn't, and I just kept on smiling. "What's wrong?" someone asked, and I noticed it was me. "Nothing bad has ever happened to us," I said, keeping the smile fixed on my face. Inside, I was filled with terror and shock, but outside, I didn't care a thing. "It's just us," I said as the world blew up around us.

I felt a pain in my back, but I still didn't care, I just kept on smiling. Steven stood up from behind a rock further ahead of me, and tried to run to me to help me. 'Why is he running towards me as if he knows what's going to happen next?' My inner self asked myself, and even though I was still smiling, I realized it must be something horrible. Suddenly barks filled the air, and I heard the wolves rushing towards me. I started to panic, and my outer self realized that too. So as the dogs clawed and bit me, reopening the wound I didn't have yet on my back, my inner and outer self screamed. It was something horrible, something that ripped the world apart at the seams and dropped us into the void, and everything turned colourful, and swirled, and then turned grey, and all I could see was white. Deafening, heart tearing, Herobrine white.

### The command block

I woke up screaming - once again. HOW many nightmares do I have to have in one night? It was literally the same dreams from earlier, just a bit more intense. Also, It felt like there actually was another person screaming WITH me, because when I first had the nightmare, I heard one scream, and presumed it was Alexa, but it was me, but now... There were two screams... As if Alexa was actually a part of it this time... I shook my dizzy brain out of it's crazy thoughts. I glanced out the dark stained glass windows of Notch's house quickly, noticing that it was a stormy day, lightning flashing down around the village close by. I worried for a second about the villagers. Would they be able to control the fire? I looked away, wrenching my already sore heart from the wrecked village that hurt my heart further. I felt like I should be helping them, bringing them buckets of water like my dad did...

I suddenly remembered Steve, and that when in the dream... when I saw him... I ignored him, and frowned at Alexa instead... I don't understand these nightmares! They made no sense. They made absolutely no sense and ruined my life... I shook my head again, trying to clear my head of my thoughts, and caught sight of the couch Alexa was sleeping on. WAS. I looked around the room, tried to find her, anywhere, and couldn't find her, so I walked out of the room. I looked around, and saw a magenta carpet on the floor, leading to a door close by, and so I ran towards it. As I reached for the door handle, I heard someone speaking inside, and I hesitated. It was something like, "I can't do this," and "Why? I mean why?". I finally decided to go in, and I opened the door. I saw Notch talking into, a block? I was mainly peach coloured, with a few different coloured buttons on either side. He held a lever down next to it, which probably powered it. "Notch?..." I said, and Notch flinched. The lever flipped back, and the block darkened. It beeped rapidly. Meanwhile Notch stood glaring at me. "I invite you into my house, on the first night you disrupt my sleep, and now you interrupt me?!" He shouted at me.

I was shocked. "Um," I started, "You didn't invite us, you took us in when your wolves attacked Alexa!" I gathered my courage up, and was filled with fury. "We are on an important mission! We have to find our parents, and you stand in the way, only being helpful so we can kill ourselves in the swirl dimension?!" I shouted back. I remembered the last night very clearly. Notch wasn't helpful at all. I glared back at him. He now looked stunned, as if he couldn't understand why I was acting like this. He regained his composure and glared down at me with the most fury that I couldn't muster up, he was angry. "That's how it is isn't it?" He growled, advancing towards me so that I could only back up to the wall. "I HELPED YOU!" he shouted in my face. The beeping in the background started sounding faint. "I GAVE YOU EVERYTHING! YOU WOULD'VE DIED!" he shouted even louder. The floor under my feet rocked dangerously. Notch just didn't get it.

"We wouldn't of had that chance of dying if your wolves were tamed!" I shouted. If he could, he would've been even angrier. "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?! WHY WON'T YOU UNDERSTAND?!" He shouted, his voice cracking with the effort. He suddenly smiled, making me scared. He was angry! He walked over to the peach coloured block. "Do you know what this is?" he asked, his voice returning to it's usual calmness. I shook my head, my ears still ringing. He smiled more, "It's called a command block," he said calmly, his smile growing wider. I froze. A command block?! I backed up towards the door. Notch started pressing the buttons on the command block. I opened the door I felt behind me, and I ran. The beeping stopped. I fell. Everything was growing bigger. I felt the bristles from the magenta carpet brushing against my legs. Notch appeared above me all of a sudden. He floated in the air, ghostlike. He smiled down at me. "Time for you to say goodbye," he said, and threw a large device down at me. I ran, but the bristles from the carpet seemed to hold me back. The device fell, and as if in slow motion, it landed on top of me.

### Possesed

I floated through space. I felt I could no longer do anything but breathe, if I could even breathe. Darkness kept tightening around me, pressing my chest closer to me. I suddenly saw something. A flicker in the darkness. I moved towards it. Moving was a strange sensation, as if I was neither floating nor walking. The flicker turned into words. They read, "Generating terrain". I frowned. Suddenly everything went pitch black again. Slowly, as if opening my eyes, the world came into focus. I was in the middle of a plains biome. The tree that stood in front of me looked familiar. The village I saw in the distance was familiar. I was standing exactly where Notch's house would be. Apparently I had traveled back in time. I wasn't surprised, this was normal for me. I sprint jumped to the tree in front of me and punched it into a few blocks of oak wood in my inventory. I made tools, went mining, created a house, and stopped to eat some DELICIOUS steak. I heard a click. Everything went dark again. I heard the same click and light flooded into my eyes.

In front of me I saw a symbol. _(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-uhIc77Zf6bQ/V22fwWbapCI/AAAAAAAAAJk/PR8e5Bj6KIYhn_11bXvf-6fsJbbK677qQCL0B/w155-h309-no/Hikonia%2Bunloaded.jpg)_  
Next to it was a similar symbol. That symbol was labeled H. _(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-E1e2EaD1pkI/V22fwT23bkI/AAAAAAAAAJg/oaPSzghhuRcvKKweMASfrycLif0sMqvlgCL0B/w238-h325-no/Hikonia%2Bloaded.jpg)_  
They looked familiar. A memory that seemed long forgotten tugged at the back of my mind. I couldn't reach it. Frustrated, I closed my eyes, and didn't see anything else. That was until the blackness started fading. I tried to close my eyes again, but they were already closed, and when I opened them, nothing changed. I saw... a weird creature. It was all round. No blocks could be seen for miles. It looked like a person, but... not. It faded to black again.

Suddenly I was back in the swirl dimension. I was lying down on the grey grass. I looked around. Alexa lay next to me, her face devoid of colour and her eyes black. I ignored her, and stood up. I could see Steve and Alex in the distance. I strode up to them, my white eyes gleaming in their pale sockets. I smiled, seeing them suffering. Alex looked up to me. Her hair was completely white, and grey was slowly seeping down her forehead. "What are you going to do to us?" she sounded like an old granny. I smiled further, "Only keep you here until you die," I said softly, relishing every word that was rolling across my tongue, "for your daughter is already dead."

I laughed, as I watched a single tear fall down Alex's face. She clutched at the necklace that hang at her neck, "Give this to her then," she ripped the necklace off of her neck, "It's the least you could do for a dying woman," she rasped, handing the necklace to me. I laughed again, "It'll be my pleasure," I said, and turned my back on her as she fell down sobbing. I walked to Alexa. "Have a nice sleep," I said, placing the necklace over her neck, "Because it's your last," I laughed once more and brought my hands together to clap when I heard a sob. I looked down to Alexa. There was a tear running down her cheek. I knelt down next to her, "You aren't a very good actress," I whispered into her ear. I heard her catch her breath. I stood up, and kicked, and kicked, and kicked, until she was coughing out blood. I laughed again.

"Have fun dying,"

### What happened?

I lay there, coughing, with Herobrine-Steven just laughing hysterically. I caught a small part of what sounded like "Have fun dying," from him. The blood ran out the side of my mouth, and pooled on the gray variants of grass I was lying on. I heard Herobrine-Steven clap. I opened my eyes, and wiped my mouth. He was gone. I stood up, and wiped my mouth again. I clapped, and the pool of blood that had been created disappeared. "Who's not a good actress?" I shouted, and laughed. I had realized it was a dream, merely a nightmare that was created in Steven's mind. If it was a dream, anything could happen. So I pretended to die, and that was it. I caught hold of the necklace hanging around my neck. I had almost forgot. Alex. I quickly ran over to the area that she knelt in, and stopped right in front of her, shocked from what I saw. Grey was seeping pretty fast down her forehead and neck, like a cold, dark liquid that spread and multiplied. I knelt down in front of her, "Mom?" I whispered, and Alex lifted her head slightly. Darkness was filling her eyes slowly. "Alexa?" she asked, "But Steven said you were dead," she started crying. I held her close to me. I suddenly had an idea. I took the necklace off of my neck and placed it over Alex's head. Colour slowly regained it's power in her face. I felt weak. The world was fading around me.

"Alexa," she said, "I can't let you do this." She placed it back over my head, and I saw clearly again. Alex was smiling, but there was a single tear running down her cheek. I shook my head, "I can't leave you again," I said, and then sobbed, not knowing what to do. I wished that the real Steven was there. He would know what to do. I suddenly came up with an answer. I slipped the necklace off of my neck and threw it to Steve. "Get out of here," I said, feeling weaker by the second, "Find Steven, he will know what to do." I hugged Alex, held her close to me. I could feel the warmth seeping from her bones, and mine, creating a blaze of fury and power around us. We grew colder by the second. I closed my eyes, and thought of everything that happened with and to me, Steven, Steve and Alex. I thought of everything that ever happened, not wanting to let go to those memories. I opened my eyes for one last second, "I love you Steven," I whispered, and fell unconscious.

### Lost

I found myself kneeling on the hot sand of the desert. I clutched my head and screamed at the top of my lungs. Finally I stopped, and I lay down in the sand sobbing. What did I do to Alexa?! I... kicked her and... she... I said... I screamed again. The picture of her lying on the grey grass coughing out blood was torturing me. Why did I do that? I tried to remove the thought from my head, to get rid of it. I couldn't. I lay on the gritty sand, the sun starting to burn my back. I screamed for a few minutes. Took a few gaspfulls of air, tried to stand up. It all rushed back to me and I collapsed, vomiting. For a few minutes (of which felt like hours) the cycle continued. Then I heard a voice, too faded to make out, but a few words caught in my brain as if a fisherman had latched the end of the fishing rod onto it. Steve used to say it every night when I went to sleep, "I love you Steven." I froze, already knowing what that meant. Alexa was alive, and that thought filled me with enough determination to keep going, to finish the task of creating the portal and to go to the swirl dimension. I stood up, this time more stable, and looked around. I was in a large, open desert with no sand dunes, and only a few dips and small hills of sand. There were a few cacti scattered through it, and even one lonely acacia tree in the direction of the sunset. The sunset. It was going to be night soon.

I gasped, and took a quick glance of my inventory. No items to build a shelter with. I started panicking. I suddenly realized that my armour and weapons were gone. I bet that Notch had stolen it. Growling from frustration, I sprinted to the lone tree. Luckily, it was a pretty large tree, and I had enough wood for a mini hut and a crafting table plus a stick. I huddled down in the corner of the temporary hut I had built. I looked through the little gaps of the small orange door I had made to see the sunset, and for a moment it was beautiful. Then the mobs started to spawn. I groaned. Waiting seemed like an option for losers. So I thought about what I would do in the next day instead. I imagined going mining, and finding emeralds. I imagined traveling the seas, and finding a sea temple. I imagined creating the portal, and leaving to the swirl dimension. Then I would find Steve. I leaned against the back of the hut, and a thought started tugging at the back of my mind. I didn't know what it was, but it was bothering me, so I started to talk. I talked to myself for what seemed like ages, and when the zombies and skeletons started dying, I felt a bit crazy. I stayed in the hut for a bit to wait for the majority of the creepers to despawn, and then I opened the door and walked outside. The sun burnt my eyes and I had to look away. I decided that had better start on the items for the portal. The thought that had been nagging me earlier suddenly hit me; I had forgotten the ingredients.


	2. What Happened Again?

### Detention

_Crackling_ ~ What happened again I ask? Do you know? ~ _Crackling_

Glancing around the hall, the boy kept his head down and walked with a quick pace. No-one should notice him, if only he was looking!-  
"Oof!" he grunted and looked up in annoyance to see a girl standing in front of him holding an iPad close to her chest and her head down. She glanced up quick and he caught a glimpse of tear-stained brown eyes before she looked down again and ran off in the opposite direction. He was less annoyed now and more curious. He quickly turned around and started to follow her when he realised with irritation that he couldn't see her anymore. He had recognised that red hair, and those blue eyes, but he couldn't remember her. Wait, wasn't it brown eyes and blonde hair? Or was it brown hair and bro- When the bell suddenly rang his eyes grew wide and he shot down the hall in the direction that he was walking in in the first place. Quickly dodging everyone as if he had done this a million times, he ran to the end of the hall, took a right, a left, another left, climbed up some stairs, took a right again, and into a classroom on his left. Closing the door behind him he panted all the way to his desk with thirty pairs of eyes staring at him in silence. When he sat down, he took a double take and quickly stood up again, making a small and awkward bow in the process.  
"I am sorry for the inconvenience, sir," he quickly said, "I was late b-because I got stopped in the middle of the hall at s-section C-B-dash-five by a girl with dark b-brown hair and had to run the rest of the way to class." He panted a bit faster in anticipation of the teacher's response. He usually didn't stutter, but this teacher was incredibly intimidating, which caused him to get caught up trying to explain what happened. The teacher stood up from his seat. All the children were so quiet, that you could here a dog from across the street of the school bark. The teacher walked slowly towards the boy, his face hidden in shadow. The boy kept his head down, and hoped that he hadn't angered his teacher. His teacher stopped at his desk and looked down at him.  
"Thank you for your apology." he said finally, and signalled with his hand for everyone to follow.  
"We forgive you." the teacher and everyone else droned in unison.  
"Please sit down and don't make that mistake again," the teacher added, "I'm sure we all don't want _that_ to happen." No-one laughed.  
"Okay class," he said, turning around and walking briskly back to his desk, "I need to do something outside with Mr Goldofoy, so please take out your books," he motioned for us to do it, "and keep quiet or there will be detention." He walked to the door and out of the room, leaving it in silence. Everyone quickly started reading and no-one made a sound, no matter if it was scratching the desk absent mindedly or whispering to their friend, they didn't to anything except for turn the pages of their books. I opened the book I had just rented from the library and started reading, quickly being consumed in the fiction that the author foretold.  
I suddenly heard nothing, not even the rustling of paper, and I looked up. The teacher was standing right in the front of the classroom, and had apparently not been noticed until now, or at least in the boy's case. He froze stiff, obviously having done something wrong again. The teacher was staring straight at him, with his cold, grey eyes seeming to pierce into the boy's skull. His thin eyebrows showed many expressions at once; exasperation, anger, and of course, as he _was_ a very rude teacher, joy.  
"So," he said softly, as the boy shivered with anxiety. "We seem to have someone in the class who not only comes late, but keeps on reading when I arrive back in class." The silence was absolutely deafening. He walked up to the boy's desk, and he seemed to not be able to keep the teacher's cold gaze. He finally noticed the intricate patterns in his school shoes. "What is this?" the teacher said, picking up the book. "A Life On The Moon? Well that seems a bit too much of a _child's_ book for someone your age." And with one swift and well practiced flick of the hand, the book went flying out the window.  
Everyone gasped, shocked at what he had just done. He looked down at the boy, anger showing determinedly in his eyes. "Detention. After school today." And that was it. No-one said anything until the end of the lesson, when the boy was leaving the classroom. He received murmurs of apologies and sympathy from other students. No-one really knew him well - he had no friends - but they knew what he had to go through.  
He walked downstairs sullenly, staring at his shoes the whole way, and out of the building. He walked to the garden underneath his teacher's window and looked up at it. The window blinds were shut immediately, but he swore he could see a smirk from a certain person in that room. He then looked down at the grass and saw that the book had landed directly in the pond in the middle of the flowerbed. How convenient. A fence had been put up already to keep people from falling in, so it was harder to fish out, but he did it eventually, with a long stick and **_DETEEERRRRMIIIINATION!_** *Take 2* perseverence. He held the edge of the book's cover, letting the other half flap sadly open, revealing soaked pages, and dripping algae. The boy sighed, and walked back into the school, holding the book over his other hand so that it didn't drip onto the tiles.  
Walking with his head down into the library, he was bound to walk into somebody else, which is exactly what he did. He fell over, dropping the book and creating a puddle in the process. In front of him a girl had dropped down as well, and was struggling to get up, as she seemed to have an extremely heavy bag weighing her down. When she did, she was about to complain to the boy how he should look where he's going, and she recognised who he was, and he her. She immediately stood up an ran out the library, the doors slamming behind her.  
It was the girl he had bumped into before, but he still had no idea why she was avoiding him. He had no time to think about it now though, as everyone was now looking at him curiously, and some noticing the book on the floor and whispering to his friends. He decided that wasting time was not the way to play, and immediately picking up his book, he walked over to the librarian.  
She smiled at him at first, but as soon as she saw the book, her eyes widened, rather comically actually, and fainted. He rolled his eyes, and, changing course, walked to the assistant librarian instead, who took the book, glanced at it, and asked for repayment for the loss. He quickly fished out some coins from his pocket, including the last bit of money he was saving for food, and gave it to the librarian. The librarian shook his head, and murmured a "Sorry," to the boy. He just turned around, and as quickly as he was there, he had gone.  
The end of the day went by in a blur, finally ending with a double lesson of maths, which he hated even more than the teacher that gave him a detention. Finally, it was the end of the day. Finally, he could go home. Finally, he could escape the lonely prison of school to continue writing his Minecraft fanfiction at home ;). But no, he couldn't. He had a detention.  
And so he slowly trudged up the stairs to the teacher's classroom, arriving just as the detention was starting, and he sat down at a desk in the corner on his own. Luckily there weren't enought people to fill up the desks, or else he would've had to sit next to somebody. He was uncomfortable sitting next to people he didn't know too well or at all. The teacher rapped his desk for silence, like everyone wasn't already extremely quiet, and told them to not do anything, not even hum. And so they sat.  
Before someone interrupted that is. They all heard running footsteps, a frantic knock on the door, and a boy entered. He was about the other boy's age, had brown hair sticking all over the place, brown eyes, and he was sweating. It was unfortunate that the room was so high up in the building.  
"S-sorry sir, I-I just f-forgot the time a-and I c-could-d-dn't find the r-room until n-now and I-I'm r-really sorry sir, really, really s-sorry." He blurted out as he dashed in, making sure not to knock over anything. I doubted that he was stuttering because he was scared, although that could've strengthened the stutter, but it seemed to be something he regularly did, and as a matter of fact, as this thought arrived, the other boy already sitting down remembered him. People called him Stutter-Josh, which was just plain rude, and he didn't have many friends, like the other boy, but he still managed to hold on. The stuttering was the only consequence.  
"You're late," the teacher said, interrupting the boy's thoughts, "after school detention again. Tomorrow." The children in the room stared at Josh, not knowing if they should not say anything or risk a "Sorry". Eventually they said nothing, and it continued. Josh seemed at a loss for words, as if his stuttering had finally greatened to muteness, until he muttered again, "Sorry," and hung his head, moving towards the only seat left in the room. The boy shuffled uncomfortably as Josh sat down, but didn't protest. Soon it was just like other detentions. The boredom eventually taking over the children's minds and making them wish they weren't there. The boy was already uncomfortable with someone next to him, nevermind in a whole class of people, but Josh had his head in his arms, and the boy's sympathy just increased. Eventually it ended.  
As soon as everyone was outside, they began chattering about how annoying it was, or about how boring it was, or about how rude the teacher was, or about how their parents would be super worried, while the boy called Josh over to a corner. Josh slowly shuffled up to the boy and asked, "What do you w-want to make fun of me or s-something because I d-don't care and you should just leave o-or I will."  
"No." was the boy's simple response. Josh spun his head towards the boy with a questioning look upon his face, and the boy smiled.  
"I'm Joe, here's my house number," he said as he handed over a piece of paper, "You can come over to play some PS2 or something if you want," and Joe turned away, walking towards his house, leaving Josh looking dumbstruck in front of the school.  
_crackling_ ~ Okay, I think that's enough for today, I might continue later, but I dunno if I can. Seeya! ~ _crackling_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Wait wa-? I thought this was about Minecraft!"  
> SLOW DOWN - it is. Just wait. :) Or find the easter eggs :DDD
> 
> BTW Joe isn't that rich, he's actually kinda poor, and a PS2 is actually something good to him (he doesn't have money for anything else). DON'T BE RAGING ABOUT HOW PS2s ARE OUT OF FASHION!
> 
> Anyway, enjoy the twist in the story! I might just gooo with the flooow like I always do ;D.  
> Thanks for reading and sticking with my bad writing!


	3. Amnesia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry about not uploading in a long time, but I am extremely lazy (I can't lie to my readers) and I probably lost what little attention I had from the mystery this story has.  
> Again, so sorry!  
> please don't kill me :'(

_crackling_ ~ Ahem, here we are, back again. Shall we continue? Wait... where did we leave off? ~ _crackling_  
The tick-tock of a clock woke me up. This confused me, in the first split-second, why was I hearing it? And why did I only wake up to my clock? The second split second passed, and I thought, Wait a sec... I don't have a clock! Another splitsecond. I can also sense it's light out. Another. I usually wake up at sunrise or before, why did I only wake up now? Another. OPEN YOUR EYES ELLIE. Another. Why do I have to, it's so snuggly in my bed, and- wait... where's my blanket? Another. I groaned. A second went by... two... thee... four... fi-  
I shot up, rubbing my eyes and then opening them.  
There was no ticking of a clock, no sunlight, but I was right about one thing. My blanket had disappeared.  
The light that was guiding me to see where I was was just a light, and what I thought was my bed was actually a slightly rounded, bouncy, soft floor. It was perfectly white. Looking around me, I could see I was in a room. The walls were made out of the same material as the floor. It kind of looked like a cell for a scycho, except, _I_ wasn't a scycho. For the first time, I looked down at myself. I was wearing white overalls, perfectly white. Nothing could possibly be that white. I had _slept_ in it, and it didn't have sweat stains or anything? Which led to the question, how did I get these on? I had no memory of getting dressed into these clothes.  
Passing that to my future self to handle, I looked at my hands. The nails were perfectly done, the nail polish I had put on a few days before having been taken professionally off, with no traces. They were shaped perfectly. Everything looked good. My hands were pale. They had none of it's usual tan, which confused me. I sat there thinking about that when I realised I was chewing my hair. I never had that habit before, I was sure. But was I? I couldn't think of myself chewing or not chewing my hair. In fact, I couldn't picture my face. I panicked a little, hoping I didn't have permanent brain damage or anything. I stopped chewing my hair, and pulled it to the side, trying not to worry. That was when I noticed my hair. It was a pale blonde, straight, and long. Again, I had no recollection of these qualities at all. I looked around frantically. For what, I was not sure. Maybe a mirror. Then I tried to push myself up.  
My arms, which I now noticed were quite skinny, buckled under my weight and I collapsed. My hair fell in front of my face, and I pushed it back, huffing a little from the strain I had just tried to endure and from the pressure on my heart as it beat so much more than it was used to. I tried again, this time succesful, and before I celebrated, pushed myself up the little bit more until my full weight was on my legs. Noticing that my legs were as skinny and unused to strain, I buckled under my weight once again. This time it took longer for me to push myself up, falling a few more times than I did on the first try, and then succeeding to stumble over to one of the walls to catch my balance.  
As I leant there, I noticed the fact that there weren't any windows or doors. Or any air vents for that fact. Was someone trying to suffocate me in this prison meant for someone terrible? This caused me to panic even more. Trying to calm down, I attempted to remember what I learned in mindfulness classes. Closing my eyes, I focused on the thought and held it there, knowing I might lose it if I let it go. It was a memory of something called a FOFBOC. I had the brief feeling of browsing my memory before closing in on the thought, Feet On Floor; Bottom On Chair. That was what it meant.  
Considering the fact that there wasn't a chair in the room, I decided to just sit on the floor, much to the gratefulness of my legs. Then I breathed in, and out, and in, and out. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven; One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven; One, two, three, four, five, six, seven; One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven. In, out, in, out.  
When I had fully calmed down and felt I could handle the situation, I opened my eyes. The fact that I had closed them was news for me. I hadn't noticed.  
"Yeah, we thought we should let you have that memory," said a calm voice, breaking the silence, "it _is_ very relaxing."  
I tried to choke out a "Who is there?", but I just coughed, seeming to have lost the chance to speak.  
"Sorry you can't talk, that's one of the side affects to the mind-swipe. I can read your mind though, so it doesn't matter."  
_Who ARE you?!_  
"Oh yes, I'm almost like an AI, except I'm real. I'm sorta like Siri I guess."  
_Siri?_  
"Oh... yeah... you don't remember anything... We should've thought through these consequences..."  
_Yeah, maybe it wasn't such a good idea GIVING ME A MIND WIPE!_  
"Sorry."  
_SORRY?! I can't frikking TALK, remember WHO I AM, remember HOW I LOOK, remember ANYTHING!!!_  
"Geez, calm down, it's like you're shouting in my ear, you're gonna make me deaf."  
_WHY WOULD I CALM DOWN WHEN ALL I REMEMBER IS MY NA- **AGGGGHHHH**_  
"Calm. Down."  
_*whimper*_  
"Geez you're a cry baby. I won't act nice guy if you go on like this, and you'll get what you just got several times over."  
_ooowwwww..._  
"Agh. You're annoying. Can I leave?"  
_no reply_  
"K bye. You're annoying anyway. Why did we choose her, boss?" *click*  
I huddled up in the corner, singed both mentally and physically from the electric shock they just gave me. Silent tears flowed out from my tear ducts, and I wished that I never had to go through that again. I would do whatever they wanted. As long as they didn't do that again. I could feel the blood running down my forehead, but I didn't dare look.  
_crackling_ ~ Wow, that was sad. Amnesia does hurt. Anyway, even though that was short, we'll continue another time, bye! ~ _crackling_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short chapter, but an interesting one nontheless.  
> Who is this person who suffers from amnesia, as the title of this chapter suggests???  
> What will happen to her, after what happened with the 'Siri' character???  
> What did they really do to her???  
> All to be revealed - IN THE NEXT CHAPTER!!!  
> geez this is like a lame tv drama series XD


	4. Minecraft

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The two newly made friends find out they both like Minecraft...  
> This is where the mystery begins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Characters in this chapter: (I'm gonna try starting this new thing :P)  
> Joe  
> Josh  
> Joe's Avatar  
> Steven...

_crackling_ ~ Hey! Ummm... There's something going on right now, so I might not be my best, but let's go anyway! ~ _crackling_

"Hey Josh?"  
"Yeah?"  
"Do you like... Minecraft?"  
"Yeah?"  
"Cool!"  
It was a few weeks after their detention, and they had grown closer as friends, going over to each other's houses (mostly Joe's) and playing games. At the moment they were playing 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire' on Joe's PS2, and although it was bad graphics, it was really fun.  
"OW! Heeeyyy!" Josh exclaimed as Joe's avatar levitated a stone in the game and dropped it on Josh's avatar's head. The beans from Harry Potter were actually points in this particular game, and as the stone landed on Josh's Avatar's head, some beans fell from him and he lost some HP. "That's not fair!" Josh pouted as Joe ran around him gathering up the beans. "Yes, more beans! I'm gonna win soo- Hey!" Josh had just dropped another stone on Joe's head, causing Joe to lose most of his beans. Josh and Joe looked at each other, and then fell to the ground laughing.  
"Anyway," Josh said as he wiped the tears from his eyes, "why did you want to know if I liked Minecraft?"  
Joe sat up and smiled, "Because then we can play minecraft on our computers." They both had, although not a particularly _great_ one, a computer, and on it, an assortment of games. From the original Mario to the latest version of some other games, their computers were FULL of them.  
"But... I don't have Minecraft..." Josh said, the excitement from a minute before lost.  
"WHAT?!" Joe exclaimed, standing up, and causing a shout from his mom, "SHUT UP! I'M TRYING TO WATCH THE LATEST MOVIE OF 'FALLING FROM THE SKY'!"  
"Okay, mom," Joe said softer, and then quieter than before, said, "WHAT?!"  
"My parents wouldn't get it for me..." Josh said sadly, "Because I got another game..."  
"What game?"  
"the universe of fun..."  
"OH MY GOD JOSH!!" Joe shouted, even louder than before. "IF YOU SHOUT LIKE THAT ONE MORE TIME, YOUNG MAN, I AM KICKING YOU OUT OF THE HOUSE!" his mother screamed from the sitting room. "But YOU'RE shouting like that!" he shouted back. His mom didn't reply to that.  
Joe returned his attention to Josh, "Why'd you get a game that even SOUNDS lame?" he asked Josh, almost laughing.  
"I dunno..." Josh replied, embarrased to the core. Noticing this, Joe said, "Aw it doesn't matter, it just means I can't get the latest version of Kickfest." and he held out a stack of notes, counting up to just the right amount for Minecraft. Josh stared at them. "No..." he said, "I can't take that from you..."  
"Awww but who am I gonna play with?"  
"Selena?"  
"Her? No. _You_."  
Josh hesitated for a moment, and then took it. Running to his dad, who was in the sitting room with Joe's mom, he whispered, so as not to disturb the movie, "Can I go to the shop to get Minecraft?" His dad didn't answer for a second, absorbed in the movie, and then nodded absentmindedly. Josh fist-pumped the air and ran back into the games room where Joe sat smiling.  
"Yes?" he asked.  
"Yes." Josh replied, and they both ran to the shop.

"'The Shop' was a special place, where only the most divine games could be found, and was a place to be worshipped. You had to, every time you went there, pray before the shopkeeper, so that he knew your humblety - humblety? Yeah, I think it's humblety - and then you may buy a game, whatever game you want, and it will be transferred to you computer or gaming console INSTANTLY, so you must-"  
"Yadayadayada, just give us Minecraft please." Joe interrupted.  
The shopkeeper of the shop 'Who Wants Games?' stared at Joe, stunned that he had interrupted his speech. He opened his mouth to say more, but-  
"Seriously, we want Minecraft. Now." Joe interrupted the shopkeeper before he even began to speak. The shopkeeper glared at them and with clenched teeth he handed over the game.  
"Thanks!" Joe said cheerily and strolled out of the shop, to where Josh was waiting. Josh had a smile on his face, both to the fact that he had just received Minecraft and to how Joe had acted in the shop. "Thanks," Josh said to Joe, almost laughing, "let's go back to your house."

When they got back, their parents had just finished the movie, and were saying things like, "Wow, that was amazing," and, "I never would've thought Lucy would make that jump!" and, "What did you think?". Joe and Josh just crept past them and to the gaming room, where they set up their computers and loaded up Minecraft. What the shopkeeper had actually given them was a card with a passcode on them, and so Josh logged onto his new Minecraft account, and put the code in.  
"Now what?" Josh asked, lost. "Just... press on that icon there..." and as soon as he did, a profile screen came up.  
"Okay." Joe said, "Now you have to choose a username." Josh hesitated for a moment, and then typed in, 'Steven'. "Really?" Joe asked, "That's your username?" Josh nodded. "Ah well, I can't blame you when my name is just 'Joe'!" They laughed softly and returned to the computer screen. A big red button popped up, asking, "ARE YOU SURE?" and Josh clicked it. The screen flashed and then another icon popped up. Josh, before Joe could tell him, pressed on it, and a big figure of a Minecraft avatar popped up.  
"Now you have to choose your skin." Joe said simply. Having seen many tutorials, Josh just opened up a ready made skin file and dragged it onto the figure. It changed skin. Joe looked at it, then at Josh. "Nice." he said simply and laughed. Josh blushed. All he had done for his skin was change the Steve skin file so that it didn't have a beard, and then saved it. "Nah, I like it," Joe said, and clicked the "ARE YOU SURE?" button for Josh.  
Joe helped Josh onto Minecraft, and then helped him to move and craft and everything you would do in Minecraft. Soon Josh got the hang of it, as he was a skilled game player, and was able to play on servers and just multiplayer with Joe.  
They had a lot of fun.  
"You know," Joe said, absent mindedly, "this reminds me of someone else I used to play with..."

 _crackling_ ~ Awww what a nice scene. Anyway, I have to stop there, my son is calling me. Bye! ~ _crackling_

**Author's Note:**

> The start of an exciting journey. Tuck in! This is going to be a confusing and long story!


End file.
